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REV. EDWARD TAYLOR 



1642-1729 



NEW-YORK 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

1892 



TazTf 




It is always a pleasure to look back to 
a notable and virtuous ancestry, and I have 
felt it a duty to have this little volume 
printed for the benefit of the descendants of 
Rev. Edward Taylor and Ruth Wyllys his 
wife, of Governor John Haynes and Mabel 
Harlakenden, of Governor Wyllys and his 
descendants, of Governor William Bradford 
of the Mayflower, and, through them, es- 
pecially of the descendants of Rev. John Tay- 
lor and Elizabeth Terry his wife. I am led 
to do this from the fatt that I have posses- 
sion of many of the papers of the late Hon. 
Henry Wyllys Taylor \ LL. D., of Canandai- 
gua, New -York, who died there about six 
years ago, at the age of ninety-three years. 
Judge Taylor spent much time during his 
long life in making genealogical researches. 



and it has seemed to me proper that the fafts 
herein stated should he made known to the 
parties interested, A part has been pub- 
lished in the (i New -York Evangelist." I 
have added a written sketch by Miss Emma 
C. Nason, which was published in a series 
of articles in the "Advocate and Guardian" 
in 1880 and 1881. As it would be difficult 
to correal the error which will be apparent to 
the reader, in the first part of Miss Nason s 
article, I have inserted it as it was printed, 
with the subsequent correction. 

JOHN TAYLOR TERRY. 
New -York, April, 1892. 



REV. EDWARD TAYLOR. 

REV. EDWARD TAYLOR was born at 
Sketchley, near Coventry, Leicester- 
shire, England, in 1642. His parents edu- 
cated him for the ministry among the Dis- 
senters, but their sufferings became very 
severe after 1662, The ejection of two 
thousand dissenting clergymen and the 
persecution which followed induced him 
to a voluntary exile. He remained some 
years after the passing of the Act of Unifor- 
mity, and sailed from England in 1668. He 
had declined to take the oath required of all 
Dissenters after the restoration of Charles II. 
At this distance of time it is difficult to 
5 



obtain information respecting his family 
connections in England, although, as he 
spent four years at Cambridge University, 
it may be supposed that they were of a 
superior class. An acrostic letter which he 
wrote contained the names of two brothers 
and one sister, James, Samuel, and Alice. 

From the date of his sailing from England 
till he reached this country, and for some 
time thereafter, he kept a diary with daily 
insertions, from which I make some ex- 
tracts. 

" A. D. 1668 April 20, being Lord's day, 1 
came for sea taking boat at Execution Dock, 
Wapping, and a smooth tide, a gentle gale 
of wind and a prosperous fare to Graves- 
end/' etc. The journal continues until, as 
recorded : "Lord's day May 3. I had a sad 
forenoon but toward evening the Shipmas- 
ter sent for me to go to prayer with them/' 
And again, ' ■ Lord's day May 24. The wind 
in the morning was very low, yet a right 

6 



northeast wind, etc., afterwards it was 
higher. I then being put to exercise spake 
from John 3rd Ch., 3rd v." "Lord's day 
June 14th. I exercised from Isaiah 3rd 
1 ith." " Lord's day June 21st. I applied 
the doctrine I delivered the previous Lord's 
day." ''Saturday, July 4th. . . . After 
the day clearing up we saw land on both 
hands, Plvmouth on the left and Salem 
on the right. About five o'clock we saw 
the Islands in our passage up to Boston." 
4 'Lord's day July 5th. About three o'clock 
we came ashore." 

He brought letters to Increase Mather, 
with whom he lodged two nights ; also to 
•'Mr. Mayo, minister of God's word to his 
people who meet in the new meeting 
house," and to John Hull the Mint Master, 
who invited him to his house till he was 
settled in college, and also invited him to 
bring his chest to his warehouse. "This 
gentleman would not be said Nay, there- 
7 



fore I was with him and received much 
kindness from him. I continued with him, 
until I settled at Cambridge/' 

4 'July 14th 1 went to Cambridge to speak 
with the President [Chauncey]/' "July 
23rd. Being settled in College pupil under 
Mr. Thomas Graves, Senior Fellow, I con- 
tinued there three years and a quarter/' etc. 
Again, "Mr. Graves not having his name 
for naught, lost the love of the Undergrad- 
uates by his too great austerity, where- 
upon they used to strike a nail above the 
hall door catch while we were reciting to 
him in the Hall at which disorder I was 
troubled, etc. When he went to read to 
us ' Natural Physic ' he would read to us out 
of Maguirus which was reputed none of the 
best, and which had not been read by the 
other classes in the College and so we did 
refuse to read it, and I also (although since 
I read it am sorry I opposed it) insomuch 
that he seeing he could not prevail with me 
8 



to read it through . . . gave me the un- 
worthiest language that ever I received of 
any man to my knowledge." 

The tutors were changed, and "Mr. 
Brown now being Tutor carried so respect- 
fully to us that he had our very hearts, and 
we scarce did anything without his advice. 
So long as I remained in College, the Lord 
gave me the affections of all both in Col- 
lege and in the Town whose love was 
worth having. Some who spoke me fair, 
but grudged me my charitable and well 
grounded esteem of good will being an 
object of their envy, when on this account 
I proposed to lay down my place at Com- 
mencement, the President by his incessant 
request and desires prevailed upon me to 
tarry in it as yet." . . . 

"November 17th, 1671. Being quarter 

day a messenger sent from Westfield to the 

Bay for to get a minister for that people, 

being by eight or nine elders met at the 

9 



lecture at Boston the day before directed 
to myself came to me with a letter from 
Mr. Increase Mather, Pastor of the Second 
Church at Boston, whom for an answer 1 
referred to the Rev. President and Fellows, 
reserving liberty to advise with friends and 
finding Mr. Danforth for it, Mr. Oakes in- 
different rather advising to it, the Presi- 
dent altogether against it at this time and 
the Fellows advising rather to it than any- 
thing else giving as a reason why their 
advice was not positive because they were 
to reSfieft the College good, hereupon I was 
both encouraged and discouraged, but Mr. 
Danforth the Magistrate driving on hard 
advised to take other advice, wherefore de- 
laying to give an answer to the 21st day, 
I did on the 18th advise with Mr. Increase 
Mather and Mr. Thacher whose advice was 
positive for it."' 

He accepted the call, and they started on 
the 27th November, " not without much 
10 



apprehension of a tedious and hazardous 
journey, the snow being about mid-leg 
deep, the way unbeaten or the track filled 
up again over rocks and mountains, the 
journey being about ioo miles, and Mr. 
Cooke of Cambridge told us it was the des- 
peratest journey that ever Connecticut men 
undertook/' 

" On the night before I went to take my 
leave of our honored President whose mind 
was changed, and his love was so much 
expressed that I could scarce leave him, and 
he told me in plain words that he knew not 
how to part with me, but as my proceed- 
ings were by prayer and Counsel, so my 
journey was carried on by mercy and good 
success. 

"The first night we lodged at Malbury, 
from thence we went out the day following 
about half an hour before sunrising for Qua- 
baug [Brookfield], but about eleven o'clock 
we lost our way in the snow and woods, 



which hindered us some three or four miles, 
but finding it again by marked trees, on we 
went but our talk was of lying in the woods 
all night, for we were then about thirty 
miles off from our lodging, having neither 
house nor wigwam on the way, but about 
eight o'clock at night we came in through 
mercy in health to our lodgings from which 
the next day we set out for Springfield, 
which we arrived at also in health, and 
on the next day we ventured to lead our 
horses in great danger over Connecticut 
river, though altogether against my will, 
upon the ice which was about two days in 
freezing, but mercy along with us though 
the ice cracked every step, yet we came 
over safely and well to the wonder of all 
who knew it. 

" This being the ist December we came 
to Westfield the place of our desire in 
health where we first called atCapt. Cook's 
who entertained us with great joy and glad- 



ness, giving us many thanks for coming 
and at such a season. . . ." "The men 
of the Town came to welcome me/' etc. 
* ' On Lord's day after I preached to them 
my first sermon from Matthew 3d Ch. 2d 
v. being Dec. 3, 1671/' 

Lockwood says that "Mr. Taylor did not 
determine for some time to stay, but there 
being a prospect of organizing a Church, he 
began to incline to settle." The population 
was small and the inducements for an edu- 
cated man to make the place his home for 
life were few ; but " he soon became con- 
nected with an event where the interests of 
this section of the Colony became involved 
which required his energy, his talent, and 
his foresight, to conduct to a successful 
issue." He went to Westfield four years 
before the breaking out of King Philip's 
war, during which the inhabitants were 
kept in a state of excitement and fear. 
Through the day they labored within reach 
13 



of their loaded guns or of sentries to dye 
an alarm, and in the night were regularly 
gathered into the fort, while guards mounted 
the turrets of the watch-house, etc. The 
buildings of four families were burned, and 
several persons were killed or carried away. 

No aid was to be expected from the Gov- 
ernment., which advised the inhabitants to 
quit their homes and unite with other towns 
for more efficient protection. Mr. Taylor 
and others in behalf of the inhabitants 
wrote to the State authorities for aid. but 
were refused with the consoling remark. 
" Its good doing what we can and leave the 
rest to God." " To Mr. Taylor's presence 
and influence it was very much owing that 
the settlement did not break up." 

Preparations for the organization of a 
church were not made until the spring of 
1679. Five churches were invited to con- 
vene for the purpose on the 27th August. 
Four of the five churches were represented. 
14 



and the then ministers were Peletiah Glover 
of Springfield, John Russell of Hadley, and 
Solomon Stoddard of Northampton. 

The war was ended, and a minister was 
settled. New colonists increased the pop- 
ulation, etc. The church accommodations 
became too contracted for the worshipers. 
It was voted to build a gallery on one side 
of the meeting house, ''to make it comely 
and comfortable as speedily as may be." 
Two hundred acres of land were sold to 
purchase a bell, that the people might no 
longer be summoned to meeting by beat of 
drum. 

Mr. Taylor discharged the duties of a 
physician, ministering alike to the bodily 
and spiritual wants of the population scat- 
tered over an extensive territory. 

I will here insert his love-letter written 

"to Miss Elizabeth Fitch/' at her father's 

house in Norwich, dated "8th of 7th 

month, 1674." The letter was in two 

■5 



parts. The body of the first part was a 
square inclosing a triangle, and in the cen- 
ter of all a heart. . A ring was also drawn 
upon the paper with the words, "Love's 
ring I send which has no end." 

Rising from the center of the square at 
the top was a dove of exquisite workman- 
ship holding an olive-branch in its mouth, 
and these lines were written upon the body 
of the dove so small as to be scarcely legible. 

This Dove and Olive branch to you 
Is both a Post and emblem too. 

There was much more written that was 
illegible. 

Westfield, 8th of 7th month, 1674. 
My Dove: 

I send you not my heart, for that, I hope, is sent 
to heaven long since, and unless it hath awfully de- 
ceived me, it hath not taken up its lodgings in any 
one's bosom on this side of the royal city of the great 
King, but yet the most of it that is allowed to be 
bestowed upon creature, doth solely and singly fall 
16 



to your share. So much my post pigeon presents 
you with here in these lines. Look not, I beseech 
you, upon it as one of love's hyperboles, if I borrow 
the beams of some sparkling metaphor to illustrate 
my respect unto thyself by, for you having made my 
breast the cabinet of your affections as I your's mine, 
I know not how to offer a fitter comparison to set 
out my love by, than to compare it to a golden ball 
of fire, rolling up and down my breast, from which 
there flies now and then a spark like a glorious beam 
from the body of the flaming sun, but I, alas, striv- 
ing to catch these sparks into a love-letter unto thy- 
self, and to guide it as with a sunbeam, find that by 
what time they have fallen through my pen upon 
my paper, they have lost their shine and look only 
like a little smoke thereon instead of gilding it, 
wherefore finding myself so much discouraged, 1 am 
ready to begrudge my instrument for, though my 
love within my breast is so large that my heart is 
not sufficient to contain it, yet I can make it no 
more room to ride in than to squeeze it up betwixt 
my black ink and white paper, but know that it 's 
the coarsest part that 's conversant there, for the pur- 
est part 's too fine to clothe in any Lingua house- 
wifery to be expressed by words, and this letter bears 
the coarsest part to you, yet the purest is improved 

2 1 7 



for you. But now my dear love, lest my letter 
should be judged the lavish language of a lover's 
pen, I shall endeavor to show that conjugal love 
ought to exceed all other love : 

ist. It appears from that which it represents, viz: 
the respect which is between Christ and his Church 
(Ephesians v. 25) although it differs from that in 
kind (for that is spiritual and this human), and in a 
degree that is boundless and transcendent. 

2nd. Because conjugal love is the ground of con- 
jugal union. 

3rd. From the Christian duties which are incum- 
bent on persons of this state, as not only a serving 
God together, a praying together, a joining together 
in the ruling and instructing of their families (which 
cannot be carried on as it should be without a great 
degree of true love), a mutual giving each other to 
each other, and a mutual encouraging each other in 
all states and grievances. And how can this be when 
there is not love surmounting all other love? It J s 
with them therefore for the most part, as with the 
strings of an instrument not tuned together, which 
when struck upon make but a harsh, jarring sound; 
but when the golden wires of an instrument, equally 
drawn up and rightly struck upon, tuned together. 
make sweet music whose harmony doth enravish the 
18 



ear, so when the golden strings of true affection are 
strained up into a right conjugal love, thus doth this 
state harmonise to the comfort of each other and the 
glory of God when sanctified. But though conjugal 
love must exceed all other love, it must be kept 
within bounds too, for it must be subordinate to 
God's glory, the which that mine may be so, it 
having got y on in my heart, doth offer my heart with 
yon in it, as a more rich sacrifice unto God through 
Christ, and so it subscribeth me, 

Your true love till death, 

Edward Taylor. 

It is sometimes said that the old New 
England Puritans had no poetry in them, 
but 1 think that this letter, with its draw- 
ings of a heart, ring, and dove, rather tends 
to disprove such an assertion. 

Rev. Edward Taylor and Elizabeth Fitch 
were married the same year, 1674. She 
died in 1689, leaving eight children. 

Mr. Taylor married, in 1692, Ruth Wyl- 
lys of Hartford, Connecticut. She was the 
daughter of Samuel Wyllys, who was born 
■9 



in 1632, a State Senator for over thirty 
years, and she was granddaughter of John 
Haynes, Governor of Massachusetts in 1 63 5, 
who removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 
1637, was elected first Governor of Con- 
necticut in 1639, and was elected Governor 
every alternate year until about 1654. 

Governor Haynes married, in 1636, Mabel 
Harlakenden, who it is said came from Eng- 
land for that purpose, both having been 
born in or near Fenny Compton, England. 
Of her we read that "she was descended 
through many lines of Kings and noblemen 
from William the Conqueror, the first three 
Henrys, the first three Edwards, John of 
Gaunt/' etc. 

Governor Wyllys owned the property in 
Hartford upon which stood the Charter Oak, 
and I remember that fifty years ago it still 
was called "the Wyllys place/' 

Ruth Wyllys had one son and five daugh- 
ters. 



Hon. Eldad Taylor was the fourteenth and 
youngest child of Edward Taylor and sixth 
of Ruth Wyllys. He died in Boston in 
1777, while a member of the Provincial 
Congress and of the Governor's Council, 
in the sixty-ninth year of his age. The 
five daughters above mentioned all married 
clergymen, as follows: Rev. Benjamin Col- 
ton of West Hartford ; Rev. Ebenezer De- 
votion of Suffield ; Rev. Benjamin Lord of 
Norwich ; Rev. William Gager of Lebanon ; 
Rev. Isaac Stiles of North Haven, father of 
President Stiles of Yale College. 

Rev. John Taylor was the fourteenth child 
of Hon. Eldad Taylor and Thankful Day of 
West Springfield. He was settled at Deer- 
field for about nineteen years as pastor, and 
dropped suddenly while preaching in his 
pulpit. He recovered, but lost his voice for 
many years, finally regaining it sufficiently 
to preach occasionally, but never again as 
pastor. It is recorded of him that he was 

21 



a man of great ability as a preacher of 
the Gospel, and 1 have many of his manu- 
script sermons which tend to prove this. 1 
heard him preach one sermon in Hartford 
about 1828, from the text, " Unto you that 
fear my name shall the Sun of righteous- 
ness arise with healing in his wings'" ; and 
although then but a child, 1 have never 
forgotten it. He was married at Enfield. 
Connecticut, to Elizabeth Terry. 

The reader of this will have observed that 
Rev. John Taylor was grandson of Rev. 
Edward Taylor and sixth in direct descent 
from Governor John Haynes and Mabel Har- 
lakenden. His wife, Elizabeth Terry, was 
also sixth in direct descent from Governor 
William Bradford of the Mayflower, as fol- 
lows, viz. : 

Her father was Colonel Nathaniel Terry 
of Enfield and Abiah Dwight. He was the 
son of Major Ephraim Terry and Ann Col- 
lins. She was daughter of Rev. Nathaniel 
22 



The children of Rev. John Taylor and 
Elizabeth Terry, whose marriage is men- 
tioned on page 23, were as follows, viz. : 
Elizabeth, born 1789; married the Rev. 
James Taylor, of Sunderland, Mass. Jabez 
Terry, born 1790; married Esther Allen, 
of Enfield, Conn. John, born 1792, of 
Bruce, Mich.; married Phebe Leach. Har- 
riet, born 1 794 ; married Roderick Terry, 
of Hartford, Conn. Henry Wyllys, born 
1796, of Canandaigua, N. Y. ; married 
Martha C. Masters. Mary, born 1798; 
married Josiah Wright, of Syracuse, N. Y. 
Nathaniel Terry, born 1800 ; married Laura 
Winchell. And four children who died in 
early infancy. 

In the last clause upon page 22 it is 
printed, " Her father was Colonel Nathaniel 
Terry and Abiah Dwight." It should read, 
" She was the daughter of Colonel Nathan- 
iel Terry and Abiah Dwight." 



Collins (pastor at Enfield) and Alice Adams. 
Alice Adams was daughter of Rev. W. 
Adams and Alice Bradford. Alice B. was 
daughter of Hon. William Bradford and 
Alice Richard, and William B. was son of 
Governor William Bradford of the May- 
flower. So that in the marriage of Rev. 
John Taylor and Elizabeth Terry we have the 
Pilgrim and the Puritan descendants allied. 

The news of the battle of Lexington 
reached Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, and 
on Monday following the Nathaniel Terry 
named above left Enfield for Boston as cap- 
tain in command of fifty-nine men. He 
continued engaged during the War of the 
Revolution as captain, major, quartermas- 
ter, and colonel. He was a man of wealth, 
and sacrificed almost all his property in the 
patriot cause. 

The descendants of the Rev. John Tay- 
lor are related by blood to the following 
23 



presidents of Yale College : President Stiles, 
President Day, and President Woolsey. 
The wife of President Clapp was also a 
granddaughter of Rev. Edward Taylor. 
Elizabeth Terry, his wife, was also distantly 
related to both the Presidents D wight. I 
may also state that Samuel Terry, one of 
her ancestors, was patentee of the town 
of Enfield. 

To return to the Rev. Edward Taylor, a 
communication from Westfield in the "Bos- 
ton News-Letter" says he died 14th June, 
1729, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, 
' ' and what a rich blessing God sent us in 
him, almost 58 years experience has taught 
us. . . . He was eminently holy in his life 
and very painful [?] and laborious in his 
work, till the infirmities of great old age dis- 
abled him. He continued to have the sole 
oversight of his flock till Oct. 26th, 1726, 
when the Rev. Mr. Bull was ordained among 
us, in which solemn action he bore his part/' 
24 



Judge Sewall writes, 1 8th April, 1728: 
" The Rev. Mr. Taylor of Westfield sits in 
his great chair, and cannot walk to his bed 
without support. He is longing and wait- 
ing for his dismission/' 

A tombstone still stands in the old bury- 
ing-ground at Westfield with this inscrip- 
tion : "Here rests the body of y e Rev. Mr. 
Edward Taylor ye aged, venerable, learned 
and pious pastor of y e Church of Christ in 
this town, who after he had served God 
and his generation faithfully for many years 
fell asleep June 24th 1729 in y e 87th year 
of his age." 

His grandson, President Stiles of Yale 
College, says that "Mr. Taylor was very 
curious in Botany, and different branches 
of Natural History, an incessant student, 
but used no spectacle glasses to his death. 
He was a vigorous advocate for Oliver Crom- 
well, civil and religious liberty. A Congre- 
gationalist in opposition to Presbyterian 

2 5 



Church discipline. He was a physician for 
the town all his life. He concerned him- 
self little about domestic and secular af- 
fairs. He greatly detested King James, Sir 
Edmond Andross and Randolph, and glo- 
ried in King William and the Revolution of 
1 688. He was exemplary in piety and for a 
very sacred observance of the Lord's Day/' 

Nearly all his professional books, which 
he had transcribed as he had opportunity, 
were in manuscript. His manuscripts were 
all handsomely bound by himself in parch- 
ment, of which tradition says he left at 
his death more than a hundred volumes in 
prose and poetry. Fourteen of these were 
in quarto. Before his death he prohibited 
their publication. 

His library descended to his grandson, 
President Stiles, and many of the manu- 
scripts were given by President Stiles and 
his father, Rev. Isaac Stiles, to the library 
of Yale College. 

26 



RUTH TAYLOR AND HER FIVE 
DAUGHTERS. 

BY EMMA C. NASON. 

It was long, long ago, in the rustic old days 
When the spinning-wheel's hum was the music of 

home, 
Accompanied maybe by caroling lays, 
But oftener still by the clattering loom. 

THERE were fourteen children in all 
in the family, and thirteen of them 
were girls. We have not the names nor 
the history of all this constellation of sis- 
ters, but, judging from what we know, we 
expect, when all the beautiful daughters of 
Zion are gathered, that there will be found 
27 



those faithful sisters who in obscure places 
have contributed to the light of the perfect 
day. 

The children of the Taylor family were 
all cradled in the arms of faith., and all knelt 
by the side of a Christian mother. The 
father was Rev. Edward Taylor, a New 
England minister, living in Westfield, Mass. 
But the girls did not all belong to the same 
mother. 

Ruth Taylor was a stepmother. Eight 
of the little ones were not her own, al- 
though her tender faithfulness was added 
to the precious legacy of love that the de- 
parted mother had left them. Elizabeth, 
the first wife, was the daughter of Rev. 
James Fitch, of Norwich. Conn., and the 
granddaughter of Rev. Henry Whitfield, of 
Guilford. The first chapter of the family 
history is briefly told. 

Edward Taylor, a Harvard graduate of 
1 67 1. just as he had received college 



honors, was called by an urgent message 
to a new settlement on the extreme outpost 
of civilization. He unhesitatingly accepted 
the call, and in the early winter crossed the 
Massachusetts forest, guided "a great part 
of the way by marked trees/' The settle- 
ment was exposed to great danger. Every 
night the few inhabitants were gathered 
into the fort for safety, and through the day 
they labored constantly within reach of 
their firearms. After three years the young 
minister won a brave-hearted bride, to share 
the dangers and the poverty of his frontier 
cabin life. 

A heroic heart, a wealth of love and faith, 
both human and divine, had Elizabeth. Fif- 
teen years she stood by his side, braving 
the dangers and enduring hardships. The 
perils which hung over them were at times 
truly appalling. "The hardships were 
equalled only by the heroism they inspired." 
Amid the terrors of King Philip's war their 
29 



first babes were cradled. But the protect- 
ing wings of Providence shielded their 
home. The fifteen years passed. Eight 
young souls had awakened in the cabin 
parsonage. The dangers of the first Indian 
war had passed, but while the settlers hoped 
for long years of peace, again was heard 
the war-whoop of the savage. But in this 
home death, by unseen hand of disease, 
preceded the more dreaded foe. The mo- 
ther was taken. Imagination must pic- 
ture the desolation of that hearthstone. 
Added to its poverty, added to all its ex- 
posures, was now the cry of bleeding hearts 
for the mother and the companion gone 
forever. 

It became the mission of Ruth Wyllys, of 
Hartford, to fill the vacant place. It was a 
great responsibility — afar greater one than 
Elizabeth Fitch had taken. The dangers 
were hardly less, grim want had kept step 
with the increase of the family, while the 
3° 



household cares were multiplied. The min- 
ister had already reached middle life, and as 
his own burdens were heavy, very much 
must fall upon his young companion. To 
his work as pastor had been added the 
duties of a physician, and in his double 
vocation he was the servant of a population 
extended over a large territory. Thus it 
will be readily seen that no easy life allured 
the young bride on her slow wedding tour 
up the Connecticut. How different from 
the modern wedding tour was that, and at 
the end of the journey a cabin full of little 
girls, and the daily problem to be solved, 
il What shall we eat and drink, and where- 
withal shall we be clothed ?" 

Ruth Taylor entered upon her work in 
1692, the year made memorable by the out- 
break of the witchcraft excitement. But 
the weird rumors of the Salem witchcraft, 
with its lamentable results, were to these 
frontier people of less significance than the 



startling stories that reached them ever and 
anon that the cruel savages were on the 
war-path. The most vivid imagination 
can hardly picture those times. Truth is 
stranger than fiction. Ruth Taylor needed 
not to read the latter, her own life was story 
enough. To the household of daughters 
there were added one by one her own five 
girls. 

First came baby Ruth, the mother's pre- 
cious namesake, the child who walked in 
the mother's footsteps, the daughter who 
on her bridal journey retraced her mother's 
own path down the Connecticut, and at 
West Hartford spent the wealth of her 
beautiful years, leaving in the parish of her 
husband her great influence; extending it 
into Massachusetts again in the life of her 
son, and reaching it on and on in pious 
posterity down to our own time. 

The next born was little Naomi. Was 
it for Ruth's mother that she was named ? 
32 



this dear daughter whose works in woman- 
hood were to praise her in the gates of 
Suffield ; whose influence in another gen- 
eration was, through her son, to extend 
over the walls of Windham ; broaden still 
wider, a generation later, from the Say- 
brook platform, and, running on through 
another channel, reach Coventry ; and 
again, westward bound, be recognized in 
Ohio in the halls of justice, and later still 
in the office of chief magistrate of the State. 

Who can set the bounds of influence? 
Who can measure the length and breadth 
and height thereof? Ruth Taylor could 
not know the future of her girls. The 
best she could do was to nurture them 
for the Lord and trust him. 

Anne, her third daughter, and eleventh 
of the family, was born in the year 1697. 
Could another girl be welcome when the 
narrow cabin was already full and running- 
over? Every babe brought so much added 
3 33 



care that doubtless the poor, toil-worn 
mother at times almost fainted. 

Had the precious infant, Anne Taylor, 
been sacrificed to domestic convenience, 
fifty-two years of a useful life had not 
been. We shall yet see how that half- 
century was wrought in golden woof in 
God's glorious plan, while the web of life 
went on in her five children, and on still, in 
children's children, to present generations. 

Next to Anne came Mehitable, or Hetta, 
who was to be another luminary in the 
constellation of sisters. 

The last, and the thirteenth, baby girl of 
the Taylor family was Keziah. The mission 
of the bright Kezzy was soon finished, yet 
she lived long enough to become the center 
of a new home and to receive the crown 
of motherhood, leaving in her nursery 
a jewel for the Master that would one 
day be acknowledged a light of the first 
magnitude. 

34 



After the troop of girls there came one 
baby boy to occupy the cabin cradle — one 
son among thirteen daughters ! What a 
large amount of petting must have been 
bestowed on the little fellow, the pride of 
his gray-haired father, the delight of his 
loving mother, the pet of a whole houseful 
of sisters, and the infant hero of the parish ! 
The wonder is that the boy Eldad was not 
spoiled, and the fact that he was not of itself 
speaks well for the thorough discipline of 
the Taylor household. This son alone, of 
all his father's family, could transmit the 
family name to after generations ; and 
Eldad Taylor was not recreant to that good 
name, but grew up among his dozen sis- 
ters, sharing lavishly their affection, and 
filled with the noble spirit of those pure 
hearts, ready at last to go forth and 
spread the influence of the family with 
the name he bore. 

We regret that we cannot trace the in- 
35 



fluence of Ruth Taylor in the lives of 
the large group of stepdaughters that she 
helped to fit for their work; but, looking 
at the family picture in the far distance, we 
can see only those that history has placed 
in the foreground, and must content our- 
selves with the thought that when the light 
of the perfect day shall fall upon the whole 
canvas these workers will appear in distinct 
view. But history gives us just a glimpse 
of the addition of one of the interesting 
group surrounding Ruth Taylor. The eldest 
stepdaughter married early, and died leaving 
an infant daughter. This motherless lit- 
tle one was immediately received into the 
Westfield home and adopted as their very 
own. Think of it! ye mothers at ease, 
who shun the responsibility of your own 
family ; think of Ruth with all her baby 
girls, who crowded so fast into the narrow 
parsonage, yet giving room, freely, to the 
child of her stepdaughter, and giving to it 
36 



the love it craved in her motherly heart. 
In that hour a fresh benediction rested 
upon her home. This new immortal 
would complete the mother's final crown 
of rejoicing. The child grew up with 
the five little aunties, sharing every way 
with them while there awaited her a 
sphere of future usefulness every way 
similar to their own. 

Thus Ruth Taylor's daughters were 
counted at last six instead of five. And 
when they had grown to beautiful woman- 
hood, through a remarkable providence, six 
young ministers, all from Connecticut, were 
attracted, one by one, to the Westfield par- 
sonage, and from that loving circle each 
young servant of the Master won for him- 
self a companion. 

Ruth, the eldest, married Rev. Benjamin 
Colton, of West Hartford. 

Naomi followed as the bride of Rev. 
Ebenezer Devotion, of Suffield. 
37 



Anne went forth to a happy home with 
Rev. Benjamin Lord, D. D., of Norwich. 

Hetta became the loving helpmeet of 
Rev. William Gager, of Lebanon. 

Kezzy, in her short mission of love, 
blessed the home of Rev. Isaac Stiles, of 
North Haven. 

Last, the adopted daughter went forth to 
the work of the Master with Rev. Peter 
Reynolds, the young minister of Enfield. 

In the six different parishes they labored 
simultaneously, and the work of Ruth Tay- 
lor's daughters became known in the gates, 
from the center field to the borders of old 
Connecticut. Would we number the sheaves 
of the faithful mother Ruth ? We must first 
learn the history of West Hartford, and 
know how much Ruth Colton contributed 
to the plentiful harvest there ; we must 
follow the results, also, in the field of their ■ 
son, Rev. George Colton, of Bolton, Mass., 
whose devout life reached down to 1 8 1 2 ; 
38 



and then we must pursue our investiga- 
tion on through all the branches of Ruth 
Colton's family. 

Next we must turn to the sister Naomi, 
and in her husband's vineyard at Suffield 
read the story of their united toil, finding 
the continuation of that story in the faith- 
fulness of their son, Rev. Ebenezer Devo- 
tion, Jr., of Windham, Conn., and again 
continued in his son, Rev. John Devotion, 
of Saybrook, and on down through his 
family. Then the work takes us to Coven- 
try, Conn., where we find John Devotion's 
sister united in labor with Rev. Joseph 
Huntington; and another sequel is found 
in their ten children, one of whom, Hon. 
Samuel Huntington, removes to Ohio and 
becomes Chief Justice of the State, and 
afterward its Governor. His family would 
take us still onward ; but we return to his 
sister, Frances Huntington, who married 
Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D. D.. so emi- 
}9 



nently known in his pastoral labors in 
Newark, N.J., and Park Street, Boston, and 
who was fifteen years President of Williams 
College, also one of the founders of the 
American Bible Society, and connected 
with almost every benevolent enterprise of 
his day ; in all of which relations his devoted 
and accomplished wife was found closely 
associated with him, their daughters also 
occupying stations of usefulness. One of 
these, well known as the wife of Dr. L. N. 
Smith, of Newark, fell a martyr to her own 
work of love, "a lady of the finest intellec- 
tual and moral qualities, distinguished alike 
in authorship and philanthropy/' And 
through all these channels and many more 
may be traced indirectly the influence of 
Naomi Devotion. 

Next we turn to Anne Lord, of Norwich, 

But what amount of study will ever be able 

to compute the outgrowth of the work of 

Rev. Dr. Lord and his devout companion, 

40 



during those revival years of the eighteenth 
century when the Norwich church, that 
could hardly be reckoned by the score, be- 
came multiplied to hundreds? A mountain 
in the history of Norwich stands the work 
of Dr. Benjamin Lord, and from the base to 
the summit of that mountain may be traced 
the footprints of his wife, Anne. And 
when she had finished her half-century 
course, and received her reward, there are 
still to be numbered the sheaves of her 
five children in the field, and of their de- 
scendants. 

Then we must hasten over to Lebanon 
to acquaint ourselves with the work of 
Mehitable, that "gift of the Lord " to Rev. 
Wm. Gager. But we here become lost in 
our hasty reckoning. As well might we 
try to number the deep, wide-spread roots 
of the tall cedars of ancient Lebanon, as 
to reckon the influences of their Christian 
home in Central Connecticut. Verily the 
41 



old prophecy hastens to fulfilment, "An 
handful of corn in the earth, upon the top 
of the mountains, and the fruit thereof shall 
shake like Lebanon/' We find the fruit 
of the Taylor family already amounting to 
a sum that can only be reckoned by the 
mathematics of heaven, and yet we cannot 
pause in our outlook on the harvests. 

Kezzy Stiles presents her quickly gathered 
sheaves. A happy bride in the beautiful 
June of 1725, and only a year and a half 
later, in bleak December, a dying young 
mother, who in the parsonage at North 
Haven gives her life for the frailest of infant 
sons. That babe, whose slender existence 
hardly whispered the faintest breath of 
hope to bleeding hearts, was all that re- 
mained of the beautiful Kezzy's life that had 
promised so much. All ! But God sees 
all, not as mortals see it. Just fifty years 
passed, and the only child of that mother 
was known as Rev. Ezra Stiles, D. D., 
42 



President of Yale College. Of him, Chan- 
cellor Kent has said, " Take him all in all, 
this extraordinary man was undoubtedly 
one of the purest and best-gifted men of 
his age/' 

President Stiles was the father of eight 
children, but we cannot follow these descen- 
dants. Neither have we space to note the 
greatness of the work at Enfield, where dur- 
ing forty-four years Rev. Peter Reynolds 
and his beloved companion won jewels for 
the kingdom. The final day shall declare 
it, how this last daughter of the Taylors, 
the child of the first, was the finishing glory 
of the brilliant crown of Ruth Taylor. But 
her daughters were not her only jewels. 
Her one son grew up to honor her, and 
while his sisters served the church, he 
served as faithfully the state. He fell at his 
post, an honored Senator of Massachusetts, 
during the War of Independence. And in 
places of trust in our nation are still to 
43 



be found the descendants of Hon. Eldad 
Taylor. In the fields of church and state 
who shall reckon the sheaves of Ruth ? 




44 



MORE ABOUT RUTH TAYLOR, HER 
ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS. 

Note. — In our late sketch of this mother, we made 
some misstatements, to which we had been led by 
errors that had slipped into history. Through the 
kindness of Hon. Henry W. Taylor, of Canandaigua, 
New -York, we are able to make these corrections. 
Ruth's maiden name, instead of being spelled Wylh's 
(as it is given in Sprague's "Annals"), is Wyllrs, 
the spelling having been changed after the family 
came to America. This correction might be of little 
account, were it not for the important aid it gives in 
tracing a family whose sons have been distinguished, 
and whose daughters have been "corner-stones." 
The other mistake is more significant in its relation 
to fact. Rev. Edward Taylor, instead of having tight 
daughters in his first marriage, had three sons and 
45 



only five daughters. His two eldest children were 
Samuel and James, who lived to manhood; the young- 
est was Hezekiah, who died young. The grand- 
daughter, who was adopted by Ruth, instead of being 
- the child of his eldest daughter, as is stated in the 
"Annals," was the only child of the eldest son, Sam- 
uel. We regret that it has been necessary to make 
these corrections, yet we are glad, in the interest of 
history, to be able to do so. In these sketches we try 
to have all our statements based upon the best au- 
thority, but the threads of family history are some- 
times to be traced only by the most careful research. 
Little, comparatively, has been written about the 
Wyllys and Taylor families ; families which through 
all their branches have had a remarkable number of 
eminent descendants. Like mountain-peaks, these 
individual lives have stood in' history, but they have 
not been connected into a mountain-chain. The 
neglect is to be regretted ; and if our humble sketch 
of this mother Ruth shall, even with its mistakes, 
call forth facts, in the possession of living descen- 
dants, which have never before been given to the 
public, and thereby furnish important connections in 
the historic chain, our first expectations will be more 
than realized. Any such information will be grate- 
fully received, either by the writer or by Judge Tay- 

4 6 



lor, who is the nearest living descendant of Rev. 
Edward and Ruth Taylor. Besides the corrections 
mentioned he has furnished us with many additional 
facts of interest, part of which we will give our 
readers in the sketches to follow. 

THE story of Ruth's ancestors is not 
less interesting than is the history of 
her descendants. 

She was the granddaughter of two Con- 
necticut governors. Her maternal grand- 
father was John Haynes, Governor of 
Massachusetts in 1635, and who joined 
the emigrant party of Rev. Thomas Hooker 
in 1636, Governor Haynes being, according 
to Bancroft, the leader of Hooker's party 
through the forest wilderness of Massachu- 
setts. He was made the first governor of 
Connecticut, and was reelected every alter- 
nate year until his death, in 1654. 

When he came to America, in 1633, he 
was a widower, but not far from the time 
of his journey to Connecticut, he mar- 
47 



ried Mabel Harlakenden, who came from 
England in 1635. We are not informed 
whether Mabel was one of Hooker's fa- 
mous company, but it is not unlikely that 
in this party she went on her bridal tour to 
her future home. There is no doubt but 
if the story of Mabel Haynes could be fully 
told, it Would in thrilling truth surpass any 
modern novel. She was the descendant 
of kings and of the daughters of English 
nobility. We are told that her ancestry has 
been traced back through thirteen differ- 
ent lines to William the Conqueror. It is 
probable that no other maiden ever came 
over with the Puritans, whose ancestry 
could be traced so far, and through so many 
royal names. Reared in luxury, Mabel and 
her brother Roger left their sumptuous Eng- 
lish home, — Roger being the proprietor of 
a grand park of 1800 acres in England, — 
left all this beautiful estate to face the 
untried hardships of the American wilder- 



ness. Roger soon died, and Mabel, "the 
daughter of nobility/' gave the wealth of 
her life to Connecticut. The new colony 
needed just such female heroism as was 
displayed by the Governor's young wife. 

The name of John Haynes is venerated 
in history, and the name of the ardent, 
loving Mabel should be given its own place 
beside it ; and glad are we to introduce her 
to our readers as the beloved grandmother 
of Ruth Wyllys Taylor. We cannot fail 
to observe the family likeness between 
them, and we almost involuntarily repeat 
the proverb, "As is the mother, so is her 
daughter/' 

Ruth Haynes, the daughter of Mabel, 
married the son of Governor George Wyl- 
lys. The home of the Governor, one of the 
finest situations in Hartford, known as the 
"Wyllys Place/' came into the possession 
of the son, Hon. Samuel Wyllys, and here. 
in this picturesque spot, were born Ruth 
4 49 



Taylor, her two sisters and brother Heze- 
kiah. Her father, when only twenty-two 
years old, was elected to the upper house 
of the Connecticut Legislature, to which 
honorable position he was returned by 
annual elections, without intermission, for 
thirty years, until the time when Sir Ed- 
mund Andros usurped the reins of govern- 
ment. Thus the son of Governor Wyllys 
was constantly busy in the legislative halls ; 
but meanwhile the daughter of Governor 
Haynes was the faithful "keeper at home/' 
and the beautiful "Wyllys Place" was a 
nursery for church and state. Around this 
early home of Ruth Taylor are grouped 
many of the most thrilling scenes in the 
history of Hartford. "The old oak" in 
front of the house, under whose branches 
Ruth and the other children played, was 
afterward to become the most famous tree 
in America, so famous as to be made a 
universal medium for advertising an "in- 
5° 



surance," "giving a name to everything, 
from a great banking-house down to a box 
of blacking." Irresistibly are we carried 
back to those days when the English 
usurper demanded the beloved Charter of 
Connecticut. In imagination we stand in 
Hartford on that memorable day in the 
autumn of 1687, when the din of arms 
proclaims that the time of final decision 
has come. Andros, with sixty soldiers, 
marches into town and demands the 
charter. Will the heroes of Hartford 
yield? They meet in general council to 
consider. The Assembly is held in the Old 
Church. Of course, Ruth's father is there, 
but at home the mother with the children, 
Hezekiah, a boy of fifteen, the thoughtful 
Ruth, and her sisters, all are intensely 
interested. We take our place with them 
— the house is close by the Assembly — 
and we watch the building surrounded by 
soldiers. But hour after hour the debate 

5' 



continues. The sun sets. The dark cur- 
tain of night falls, while every heart is 
still in suspense. The candle-lights flicker 
from the old church, and the thick dark- 
ness without increases — when, suddenly, 
the church is as dark as the night without. 
Confusion follows, and soon the story 
spreads on wings over Hartford, "The 
charter is gone/' Just as the tyrant hand 
was stretched out to grasp it, the light of 
every candle in a twinkling went out, and 
in the sudden darkness, noise, and con- 
fusion the precious charter disappeared. 
Where was it? That was a Hartford se- 
cret. It was guarded well. The friendly 
old oak opposite Ruth's home never whis- 
pered it, but for twenty long months it 
kept the valuable treasure concealed in its 
bosom. That memorable night was five 
years before Ruth's marriage, and Ruth, 
when the dangers were passed, celebrated 
with the rest of the family the happy May- 
52 



day in 1689, when the charter was taken 
from the trunk of the old oak, when the 
government was restored, and Ruth's 
father was again given his place in the 
Legislature. Hon. Samuel Wyllys served 
six years more, making a total of thirty-six 
years in this office. But the sequel of this 
family's official history is still more remark- 
able. Hezekiah, the only brother of Ruth, 
was elected in 171 1 Secretary of State, 
and by annual elections was continued in 
this office for twenty-three years, until his 
death. His immediate successor as Secre- 
tary was his own son George Wyllys, who 
was elected annually to the office for sixty- 
one years, until his death, in 1795, when 
he was succeeded by his son; General Sam- 
uel Wyllys, who was elected every year, 
for fifteen years, until 1809, the office of 
Secretary of State having thus been during 
ninety-nine consecutive years by annual 
elections given to Ruth's brother, his son, 
53 



and grandson. Adding to this the thirty- 
six years that Ruth's father served in the 
Legislature, and the time that her grand- 
father, Governor Wyllys, held the office, 
either of chief magistrate or as assistant in 
Connecticut, and we have a record of one 
hundred and forty-one years, where high 
places of trust were annually given by 
the people to the Wyllys family. Is there 
to be found anywhere an official history 
similar to this? 

Our readers have now become some- 
what acquainted with Ruth's ancestors, 
have lingered near her childhood home, 
have recognized the old charter-oak as it 
stood a sentinel, as it were, over "the 
Wyllys place/' and guarded in its secret 
treasury the most liberal grant that had 
ever issued from the royal hand ; bound- 
ing the Connecticut colony on the west by 
the Pacific Ocean, and thus preparing the 
54 



way of the American nation for its wide 
claim to the great Western States of our 
Union. Well might the Wyllys family 
cherish and our whole people venerate 
that grand old oak ! We have followed 
also the boy Hezekiah, who whistled be- 
neath its shade and climbed to its topmost 
branches. Taking a look into the distance, 
we have seen Connecticut intrusting for a 
century its important records to the faith- 
ful Hezekiah and his family. 

Now we go back and follow again the 
maiden Ruth. We are better prepared 
than we were at first to follow this de- 
scendant of kings, this granddaughter of 
two governors, who, like the brave- 
hearted Mabel, counted not the hardships 
before her. We realize more than at first 
how great the change from the Wyllys 
place in Hartford to the cabin parsonage 
of Westfield. But the minister's mother- 
less children were waiting for the blessing 
55 



of her life. The two boys, Samuel and 
James, were just at the age when boys 
need, perhaps, more than at any other 
time, the gentle influence of a judicious 
mother; and the influence that was so 
blessed in the training of their younger 
sisters must have fallen with a precious 
benediction upon the minister's boys. 
Their sister, Bathsheba, was nine years old 
when the stepmother came, and Elizabeth 
was between seven and eight. Mary, Abi- 
gail, and the other sister died young, and 
Hezekiah, their little brother, was also 
numbered with the early dead. 

Samuel and James grew up to manhood, 
and the two brothers went into the mer- 
cantile business together ; but Samuel, 
while absent in the West Indies, died 
suddenly, and, not far from the same time, 
James died at home. Thus, almost at one 
stroke, the minister's family was bereft of 
its sons. The only one finally to perpetu- 
us 



ate the family name was the boy Eldad, 
who followed in the wake of his ten sis- 
ters. Samuel had married, but his young 
wife died before he did, leaving only an in- 
fant daughter, Elizabeth, the adopted one 
of the Taylor household, who grew up 
with Ruth's little ones. But before we 
follow the history of this child and Ruth's 
daughters further, let us turn to the half- 
sisters, Bathsheba and Elizabeth. They 
were educated almost entirely under the 
loving watch-care of their stepmother; and 
while assisting her in the household duties, 
and rocking the cradle of the little ones, 
they grew in all the domestic graces, and 
beneath the culture of the wise young 
mother developed into lovely. womanhood. 
But death claimed the beautiful Elizabeth 
for his bride, before any happy suitor had 
won her from the parsonage. Judge Tay- 
lor says, in reference to her: " In my early 
youth the traditions of Elizabeth were clear 
57 



and bright. She died, I believe, at the age 
of eighteen or twenty. According to tra- 
dition, she was an extraordinarily gifted 
and lovely girl. It is said that no person 
had ever died in Westfield whose death had 
caused such universal and profound grief." 
Who shall tell what an influence for good 
may have followed this lovely life ? 

The fair Bathsheba now alone was left 
of all the first mother's daughters to carry 
the influence of the Taylor household into 
a home of her own. Hon. John Pynchon, 
a young man of worth, received this first 
bride of the parsonage. He was a descen- 
dant also of Governor Wyllys, his grand- 
father, Colonel John Pynchon, having mar- 
ried the Governor's daughter, Amy Wyllys, 
the aunt of Ruth Taylor. Thus the descen- 
dants of the stepdaughter came in Ruth's 
own line of descent. The Pynchon family 
had received well-merited honor for their 
public spirit, skill, and faithfulness in every 
58 



position they filled. The son-in-law of the 
Westfield minister was prepared by his up- 
right predecessors to extend the family in- 
fluence in his union with Bathsheba. Her 
life was not long, yet was lengthened until 
she had nursed a flock of precious little 
ones for the Master, and then some one 
else was raised up to carry on her work. 
We must pass over those years, when, in 
the household of Bathsheba, the life of the 
Taylor nursery was repeated, and content 
ourselves by pointing our readers to a few 
of the results. 

We cannot attempt more than an imper- 
fect glance. The family circle has become 
far extended. It would take many volumes 
to tell all the story of Bathsheba Pynchon, 
her seven or eight children, and their de- 
scendants. We would need to learn the 
record of her son, Joseph Pynchon, the Har- 
vard graduate of 1726, and know all the 
great family history of her daughter, Eliza- 
59 



beth Pynchon, who married a Mr. Colton, 
and had fifteen children, nine sons and six 
daughters ; and still another volume would 
be needed to trace the sister, Bathsheba, 
who married Robert Harris, and from 
whom, according to Dr. Sprague, de- 
scended President Harris, of Columbia 
College. But the mother Bathsheba' s mul- 
tiplied life would not be half portrayed, 
even then. You must learn by the most 
thorough acquaintance the remarkable fam- 
ily history of her daughter. Mary Pynchon, 
who married General Joseph Dwight, and 
had nine children. Study then the saintly 
life of their daughter, Lydia Dwight, who 
married Rev. John Willard, from whom 
have descended many eminent clergymen, 
and such men in official life as Hon. John 
Dwight Willard. 

Another volume of the life of Mary 
Pynchon Dwight is that of her daughter, 
Dorothy, who married Hon. Jedediah Fos- 
60 



ter, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Massa- 
chusetts, and a member of the convention 
which framed the constitution of that State. 
The history is still continued in the life of 
their son, Judge Dwight Foster, a United 
States Senator from Massachusetts. Add 
to this the life of Hon. Theodore Foster, 
another Senator, for thirteen years, from 
Rhode Island ; include in the catalogue the 
life of General Dwight Foster, another Judge 
of the Supreme Court, and forget not to 
embrace the noble record of Alfred Dwight 
Foster, of Worcester. Massachusetts. What 
a library it would take to tell all the story 
of the Pynchons. the Coltons, the Harrises, 
the Dwights. the Willards, and the Fos- 
ters, descendants of Bathsheba ! We have 
named only a few of the many who are in- 
cluded in this family. Besides all its re- 
nowned senators and judges, ministers, 
professors, and college presidents, now 
placed on high, how many faithful Eliza- 
61 



beths, noble Bathshebas, loving Marys, 
saintly Dorothys, and beloved Lydias, — a 
host of true-hearted Christian women, — 
descendants of Bathsheba Taylor, the step- 
daughter of Ruth. 

We turn again to Ruth's own girls. We 
have followed her eldest daughter, Ruth, to 
West Hartford, and have had a faint view of 
the influence she exerted in her union with 
Rev. Benjamin Colton and their children. 
A question has arisen whether Rev. George 
Colton, of Massachusetts, was their son or 
not, as some of the family have not his 
name on their records ; but Judge Taylor is 
inclined to think this only an omission, and 
that our statement, taken from history, is 
correct, as he remembers that his own 
father often mentioned with his relatives 
Rev. George Colton, who, on account of 
his great height, was called the "high 
priest." We are also informed that Rev. 
62 



Ely Colton, of Stratford, Conn., was reck- 
oned among the sons of the West Hartford 
parsonage, and besides there was a son 
Benjamin. 

Ruth Colton had a daughter, a name- 
sake, who married Timothy Skinner, and 
Mrs. Ruth Skinner had a Ruth, who be- 
came the wife of Rev. Nathaniel Hooker, 
of West Hartford. We are thus able to 
trace five generations of Ruths, from the 
time when Ruth Haynes, the Governor's 
daughter, let her light shine brightly from 
the Wyllys home, on the beautiful "hill 
of Hartford ." 

Going back to Ruth Colton, we meet 
another daughter, Thedocia Colton, who 
joins her life with Rev. Adonijah Bidwell, 
the first pastor of the church in Tyringham, 
Mass. We are told that the fair Thedocia 
was "a poetess/' but we believe that her 
poems were not preserved — women had 
not yet been given their place among 
63 



authors. Traditions of her writings were 
handed down, but her beautiful life was a 
brief sonnet, including only seven years of 
wedded happiness. To fill her place, Rev. 
Mr. Bidwell chose her cousin, Jemima De- 
votion, a daughter of Naomi Taylor. 

The history of the Devotion family has 
called forth close investigation. It appears 
that Naomi Taylor was the second wife of 
Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, of Suffield, and 
stepmother to the minister's eldest son, 
who was afterward known as Rev. Ebe- 
nezer Devotion, Jr., of Windham, Conn. 
Although not Naomi's own child, he re- 
ceived from his sixth year the lasting 
impress of her loving care, growing up 
under the same influence that was thrown 
around Rev. John Devotion, of Saybrook. 
who, we learn, was Naomi's own son, 
instead of a grandson, as we were at first 
informed. Naomi's eldest daughter married 
Rev. Hezekiah Bissell. This daughter was 
64 



the mother of nine children. To her fam- 
ily belonged Colonel Hezekiah Bissell, of 
East Windsor, whose daughter married 
Rev. Abel Flint, D. D., of Hartford. Their 
daughter became the wife of Rev. Herman 
Norton. Two of Naomi's daughters we 
are not able to trace, only to learn that one 
married Jonathan Goodhere, and the other 
Jonathan Wells. The youngest daughter, 
Jemima Devotion, who took her cousin 
Thedocia's place at Tyringham, had four 
children. Her two sons, Adonijah Bidwell, 
Jr., and Barnabas, have very many descen- 
dants, some of whom have risen to prom- 
inent places. One of Jemima's daughters 
married Eliab Brown, and their son, Rev. 
Josiah Brown, was for many years mission- 
ary in Greece and Asia Minor. The other 
daughter, Jemima, became the wife of Wm. 
Partridge, and from the home of Jemima 
Partridge one of the first missionaries to 
the Sandwich Islands received his heroic 
5 65 



companion. This descendant of Ruth 1 
lor, Nancy (Partridge) Whitney, was in 
1868 still to be found at the Hawaiian 
Mission, among the remnant of that first 
brave band who planted the Gospel in the 
benighted isles of the Pacific. In opposite 
directions, the great-grandchildren of Nao- 
mi had gone into the mission-field, and in 
their work they almost met in the circum- 
ference of the great vineyard. One of the 
family wrote years ago : " The children of 
Jemima Devotion are found in all parts of 
the world." 

We are not able to follow so far the de- 
scendants of Anne Taylor, but we doubt 
not that the work of Rev. Benjamin Lord, 
D. D.. and his devout companion, which 
stands as a monument in the history of 
Norwich, Conn., has sent out. in number- 
less channels, good streams that, flowing 
on and on, are bearing precious freight to 
the boundless ocean of eternity. Anne 

66 



Lord had four sons, Benjamin, Elihu, Ebe- 
nezer, and Joseph. The last two were 
twins, and were graduates together at Yale 
in 1758. 

There are doubtless many descendants 
of this Norwich family. One great-grand- 
son of Anne has lately been traced to his 
field of labor at Colorado Springs, Col., 
where Rev. Willis Lord is found planting a 
new vineyard for the Master. 

Hetta Talyor's life cannot be followed 
through children's children. The home 
of Rev. Wm. Gager, although blessed, was 
also afflicted. Their two children were 
taken while young to the upper fold. 
Mysterious are the ways of Providence. 
This mother in Lebanon was written child- 
less, and in North Haven her sister Kezzy 
left the frailest of infants motherless. But 
we have followed the little one until we 
have been introduced to the man of great 
influence known far and near as President 
67 



Stiles, of Yale. The President had two sons 
and six daughters. The eldest son, Ezra 
Stiles, became a lawyer of North Carolina. 
Isaac was at sea at the time of his father's 
death, and as he was never afterward heard 
from, it was supposed that the ship was 
lost in a storm. Elizabeth, the Presidents 
oldest daughter, died about the same time. 
Keziah married Hon. Lewis Burr Sturgis. 
a member of Congress. Amelia, after her 
father's death, had a home for some time 
in the family of Rev. John Taylor, the 
father of Judge Taylor. She married Hon. 
Jonathan Leavitt. of Greenfield, Mass., a 
judge of the higher court. She had three 
daughters and one son. The latter died 
in the midst of his college days. Sarah 
Leavitt, the eldest daughter, married a 
lawyer ; Mary remained single, and occu- 
pied the old home in Greenfield ; Amelia 
married a Mr. Jenkins, and their only son 
is well known as Rev. Jonathan L.Jenkins. 
08 



pastor of the First Church in Pittsfield, 
Mass. 

Ruth Stiles married John M. Gannett, 
and was the mother of the late Rev. Ezra 
Stiles Gannett, of Boston. Mary Stiles, the 
other daughter of the President, was the 
first wife of Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D., 
the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Thus we may trace in high positions, in 
church and state, the descendants of Keziah 
Taylor, who lived only long enough to give 
her child to the worldo Elizabeth Taylor, 
the adopted child of Ruth, has also had 
numbered among her descendants men 
high in position. Among these was Hon. 
James Dixon, late United States Senator 
from Connecticut, who was a great-grand- 
son of Rev. Peter Reynolds and Elizabeth 
Taylor. 

We have now followed Ruth Taylor's 
girls from Bathsheba, the stepdaughter, 
down to the adopted grandchild. We have 
6 9 



tried to so trace them, that our readers may 
follow them still farther, should they know 
their families. But we must not close our 
imperfect review without one look at 
the family of Ruth's only son, Eldad, the 
youngest of the fourteen children of the 
Westfield parsonage. 

It was the year 1708 when Eldad. the 
fourteenth child of the parsonage was 
born, the same year when the little grand- 
child, Elizabeth, was received into the 
crowded nursery at Westfield. The death 
of Samuel's young wife being soon fol- 
lowed by his own death and that of his 
brother James, the orphaned babe was 
doubly precious for the sake of the lost; 
while the blow that suddenly bereft the 
household of the two grown-up sons led 
them to fold very closely to their hearts 
the infant Eldad, the only boy now of the 
parsonage. But the care to Ruth, at this 
70 



time, must have been great. When these 
two children were added to the family, the 
Westfield pastor was already an old man, 
his locks well sprinkled with the gray of 
sixty-six years. Would the Benjamin of 
his old age prove a staff in his last days ? 
Their hopes were fulfilled. Eldad was 
their stay. He remained when his five 
sisters, one by one, went forth to bless 
the homes of Connecticut ministers ; and, 
when the sixth minister came and took 
Elizabeth also, the old parsonage had only 
Eldad left, of all the fifteen children who 
had gladdened it. Its last blessing was 
reserved for the noble young son who was 
its crowning joy. Upon this strong, faith- 
ful arm the aged pastor leaned until his feet 
had touched the last sands on the shore of 
time. When death divided them the pil- 
grim had entered his eighty-eighth year, 
and Eldad had only just reached his major- 
ity. Upon the threshold of twenty-one, he 
71 



received the dying blessing of the patriarch 
of Westfield. Verily, Eldad Taylor was 
blessed. How long he was permitted to 
minister to his beloved mother we know 
not, but we are sure that by her influence 
Ruth Taylor remained long as a minister- 
ing spirit to her boy. He continued to 
occupy the old home, where every asso- 
ciation was precious. He became a dea- 
con in the church where his father had 
so long ministered. 

We pass over the many years of faith- 
fulness that intervened, and come down 
to the commencement of the Revolution, 
when we find in the memorable Senate 
of Massachusetts Hon. Eldad Taylor. He 
was selected as one of the Governor's 
Council. At the close of the legislative 
session he had a strong desire to return 
home, but si he was earnestly urged by the 
Governor to remain and aid him in the 
72 



threatening emergency/' He did so, and 
fell at his post, as truly a martyr to the 
cause as the soldiers who gave their lives. 
Had he returned to Westfield he might 
have escaped the fatal pestilence, but. obe- 
dient to duty, the Massachusetts Senator 
fell in Boston, by the hand of that dread- 
ful scourge, smallpox, on the 21st of May, 
1777. He had been twice married, and 
left a large family. His first wife, Rhoda 
Dewey, had five children, but only two 
survived her. He next married Thankful 
Day, a relative of President Day, and also of 
Secretary Thomas, the successor of Secre- 
tary Wyllys. Thankful was evidently one 
of those noble helpers for whom the world 
outside of her own family has reason to 
be ••thankful/'' She was the mother of 
nine children. Thus, it will be noticed, 
the second Taylor family of the Westfield 
homestead numbered the same as did the 
first — fourteen children. At his death, 
73 



Hon. Eldad Taylor left six sons and four 
daughters. This family was hardly less 
remarkable than Ruth's, but we must con- 
tent ourselves with only a rapid survey 
of their history. We shall not in this con- 
nection attempt to trace the descendants 
of the four daughters. The following is 
the significant epitaph on Eldad Taylor's 
tomb-stone in Westfield, Mas-. : 

''Kind reader, this stone informs you 
who we were. What we were, we tell you 
not. What we ought to have been, that 
be thou. Where we are now you will 
know hereafter. Remember that ' Christ 
is the Resurrection and the Life.' ' 

The six sons were Eldad, Edward. 
James, Samuel, Jedediah. and John. Four 
of these were at different times members 
of the State Legislature, three of Massachu- 
setts, and the youngest of Connecticut. 

Eldad, the eldest of the six, was one of 
the first wife's children, but, losing his 

74 



mother at the age of four, he came early 
under the care of Thankful Taylor. One 
of his descendants is Dr. Charles Fayette 
Taylor, the manager of the establishment 
for curing curvatures of the spine, etc., on 
53d Street, New-York. He has numerous 
other descendants scattered through north- 
ern New -York and the Eastern States. 

Edward, the eldest son of Thankful, has 
also a large posterity. He left several chil- 
dren, "all of whom were, decidedly re- 
ligious/' and some have given liberally to 
charitable purposes. His daughter, Mary, 
married Rev. Jonathan Nash, and was the 
mother of Rev. Ansel Nash. Roland Ma- 
ther, of Hartford, a corporate member of 
the A. B.C. P.M., was another descendant; 
as was the wife of John B. Eldridge, 
another of the first members of this Mis- 
sionary Band. The Morgan Brothers, Ho- 
mer and Henry T., of New-York, are 
connected with the Taylors, through Pa- 

75 



melia, another daughter of Edward. Thus 
we find the links connecting ministerial 
circles, mission bands, and business firms. 
Turning to Hon. James Taylor's family, 
we are made acquainted with a son, Rev. 
James Taylor, of Sunderland, Massachu- 
setts, and among his descendants are Rev. 
James F. Taylor, of Michigan, and Rev. 
James Taylor Dickinson, of Connecticut, 
one of our foreign missionaries to the East. 
We must pass by others, — there is much 
to be yet learned by investigating the his- 
tory of this large family, — and devote our 
brief remaining space to Rev. John Taylor, 
of Deerfield, Massachusetts. He, like his 
father, was the fourteenth child of the 
Westfield home. His brother Eldad had 
been married eight years before John was 
born. Bereft during his boyhood years of 
his father, he must have owed much to his 
mother. How much the world owes her 
they never will know. Thankful Taylor 
76 



did her work faithfully. She survived her 
husband twenty-six years. Her children, 
even to the youngest, were thoroughly 
fitted for their work. John, a graduate of 
Yale, was the family offering to the priest- 
hood. He served at one time in the Con- 
necticut Legislature, but he was best known 
for his work in the ministry. For nineteen 
years he was the pastor of the Congrega- 
tional Church in Deerfield. He married " a 
child of the Mayflower," a descendant of 
Governor Bradford, and was the father 
of eleven children, seven of whom — five 
sons and two daughters — lived to years 
of maturity. His eldest daughter, Eliza- 
beth, married her cousin, Rev. James Tay- 
lor, of Sunderland, Mass. She and her 
husband died within a week of each other, 
leaving nine children, the eldest scarcely of 
age and the youngest not six months old ; 
yet these children of many prayers all lived 
to honor their family. One of the sons 

77 



rose to the head of the greatest mercantile 
company in Charleston, S. C, and one of 
the daughters, Julia Taylor, married Rev. 
Mr. Hyde, through whose family the influ- 
ence of good parentage may be traced still 
on. Harriet, the other daughter, married 
Mr. Roderick Terry, of Hartford, and left 
at her death eight children. In this family 
we are introduced to Rev. Roderick Terry, 
D. D.,* of Peekskill, N. Y., her grandson. 

Of the five sons of Rev. John Taylor, 
three have been deacons in the Congrega- 
tional Church, and a son of the youngest, 
Frank D.Taylor, of Detroit, Mich., has been 
President of the Young Men's Christian 
Association of the United States. 

But the best-known of all Rev. John 
Taylor's five sons is Hon. Henry Wyllys 
Taylor, of Canandaigua, N. Y., late Judge 
of the Supreme Court of this State. We 

* At the present publication of this article, he is 
Pastor of the South Reformed Church, New-York. 

78 



are indebted to him for a large amount of 
the knowledge we have of this remarkable 
mother and her descendants. Judge Taylor 
being her nearest living relative, only re- 
moved two generations from Ruth's own 
nursery, has treasured up much of the 
family story. 

Although these sketches, as given by 
us, have been imperfect, we are sure that 
every one who delights to note the fulfil- 
ment of God's promises to the faithful 
must be interested in the harvest of Ruth, 
whose descendants in the ministry may be 
reckoned by nearly half a hundred, who 
has representatives in the wide mission- 
fields of the East and of the West, among 
the mountains of Asia and in the isles 
of the sea, whose sons have molded our 
institutions of learning, and whose law- 
makers have been exalted to almost every 
position of trust in our nation. Is not the 
record of such a family worth preserving ? 
79 



The sheaves of Ruth can never be fully 
numbered here, but we trust that the story 
will yet be more complete, and that many 
more of the faithful laborers of her family 
will yet "be known in the gates" of the 
world's wide field. 




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